London Premiere held for 300

Category: 300 News | Posted by:marypArticle Date: March 15, 2007 | Publication: ITN News | Author: UnknownPublication/Article Link:ITN.co.uk
Celebrities and hundreds of film fans braved the chilly temperatures for the premiere of 300, a film that updates the legend of the Spartans.

"This is the first film that I have done really well" - Gerard Butler

The film, which has reportedly been criticised by Iranian officials as "an insult to people", follows a group of 300 Greeks who fight against an overwhelmingly superior Persian army in 480 BC.

Cast members including Scotsman Gerard Butler who plays King Leonidas, and British actress Lena Headey, who plays Queen Gorgo, were welcomed by strapping Spartan warriors complete with shields, spears and helmets.

Butler, 37, said: "This is the first film that I have done really well. I used a lot of the Scotsman in my role because there is a great similarity in what goes on inside the warriors of old that has been very much lost.

"I read the story, I learnt about the Spartans. I was doing it for Greece but I was doing it for Scotland as well."

Headey, 33, said: "It feels great being involved with something that has been so well received. To play a woman who isn't relied on to be the weeping, sorrowful woman and to be strong and stand with the men in something so big and risky is great."

The film was inspired by the novel by Frank Miller.

Co-writer and director Zack Snyder said: "The thing with 300 is there are images and sequences that make you go `wow'. It's like a rock concert - it's fun to see with an audience.

"We made it in some ways for a specific audience. It turned out it had broader appeal than I first thought."

The cast was joined by Jimmy Carr, Celebrity Big Brother housemate Danielle Lloyd and Will Young at the premiere at the Vue West End cinema in London's Leicester Square.